A 26-year-old man from Wigan has been arrested in Derbyshire following a series of firearms incidents across the Wigan area since Wednesday 2 November 2005.

The arrest was made yesterday afternoon, Saturday 12 November 2005, by firearms officers from Greater Manchester Police.

At approximately 1am on Wednesday 2 November 2005 a firearm is thought to have been discharged towards police officers on Scot Lane in the Newtown area of Wigan, as they made enquiries into a burglary which had taken place in Wigan the previous day. The officers were not injured.

On Tuesday 8 November 2005, at 9.20pm, police were called to a house in the Beech Hill area of Wigan following reports that shots had been fired. No one was injured in this incident.

At 2.20pm on Friday 11 November 2005 police were informed of an incident in which a 43-year-old woman had her car stolen from her at gunpoint in the Aspull area of Wigan. She was left shaken but was uninjured.

Approximately 35 minutes later, police received reports that a 60-year-old man had been brought to Wigan Royal Infirmary with two gunshot wounds to his upper body. It is believed that he sustained the injuries outside of an address in the Wigan Lane area of Wigan. The victim is currently in a stable condition in hospital.

At 8pm on Friday 11 November 2005 police received another report of a car being stolen at gunpoint from two men in their early twenties in the Coppull Lane area of Wigan. No one was injured in this incident.

A 26-year-old man from Wigan has been arrested on suspicion of robbery, aggravated burglary and attempted murder.

Officers are currently forensically examining what is believed to be a firearm.

Three others, a man and two women, have been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.